Two Can Become One
by FE Girl 1
Summary: A ball is held at Saronia after it began to get rule by Alus. What else can happen? ArcxOc; LunethxRefia


**I was inspired by the FFVIII Ballroom scene, so I decided to make a one shot. I hope you enjoy :)**

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Saronia was finally in peace and Alus was now King. He decided to start a ball in celebration of restoring peace to his kingdom that was once his father's. He implored Luneth and his friends to stay and they were happy to stay since they have not taken a break in a while. Maids drove Refia and Karin away from the boys to get ready while Alus lead them through another hallway in a different direction of the castle. The hallways were narrow and wide, some guards standing on guard and nodding to Alus as they passed by them.

Luneth asked, "Do you think you can handle this kind of thing, Alus? I mean, you are young..."

Alus nodded. "I must! There is no one else who can take over the throne besides me. I must do this, in my father's name. I am just going to do the best I can to make Saronia live in peace again. That is what Father would want."

Ingus smiled. "You have a heart of gold, Alus. You really do."

Arc nodded. "Just do the best you can and don't feel down. I am trying not to feel that way too."

They four boys arrived to the room where the proper clothes for the three male Warriors of Light were. Luneth and Ingus looked at one another, nodded, and turned to the two friends, who were talking to each other.

"Arc, why don't you go in and change first. We will wait out here," Luneth spoke, patting his friend on the back gently.

"A-Are you sure?" the brown-haired boy asked.

"Of course. We need to talk to Alus about... something, anyway," Ingus replied.

Arc looked down before he faced Luneth and Ingus again. "Ok."

Once he entered the room, closing the door behind him and locking it, Alus asked the two, "What is it that you want to talk to me about? Is it important?"

"Well..." Luneth began. "You see, Arc likes Karin, but he is just too shy and scared to tell her how he feels about her. We thought that this ball may be the thing to help them spill the beans to each other."

"That is why we were wondering if you would like to help us out on... hooking them up," Ingus finished, his arms crossed with a grin.

The king thought about it and smiled. "Sure. I think I may know how we can do it."

That night, the castle's ballroom was packed with the citizens of the kingdom. The many women wore beautiful dresses while the many men were sharply dressed in nice tuxedos. Guards were standing on each side of the window doors and kept a sharp eye for anyone who looks suspicious. There was a large chandelier hanging over everyone's heads and there were paintings of angels decorating the ceiling. The floor was tiled in a pale, beige color, therefore, others can see much of their reflections. Luneth, Arc, and Ingus looked very nice and sharply dressed as they stood near one of the doors, waiting for Refia and Karin. Luneth had his hair still tied with a ribbon and Ingus had his hair tidied up well. Arc was just the way he always was, no matter what clothes he wears.

Somehow, tonight was going to be excellent, Luneth would say in his mind. Ingus was used to this kind of event since there were some back at Castle Sasune. Sara would always have him being dragged to the dance floor just to dance with him. The blond could not help but blush a little with these thoughts.

"You must have been through things like this, don't you, Ingus?" Arc asked, holding his own hands, his fingers intertwining.

"That is correct. Therefore, I am completely aware of the situation." Ingus fell silent for a while. "Were are Refia and Karin? They should be arriving any minute now."

Luneth sighed, his hands behind his head and leaning on the wall. "Who knows? Maybe they are spending too much time with their hair. You know what girls are when it comes to their hair. Too picky, I must say."

The blond beside the silver-haired boy closed his eyes. "No, I am sure that Karin may not be like that with her hair, but I do agree with you on Refia's case."

The brown-haired boy looked up at the two. "D-do you think that they will enjoy this?"

"Of course!" Luneth said, opening one eye to look at him. "This what every girl dreams of, dancing with the finest and good-looking young men. This may be a bit cliché to me, no offense taken."

"You only say that because this is your first time at a ball, Luneth..." Ingus pointed out, letting out a small chuckle escape from his mouth.

The boy flinched. Arc could not help but snicker. He saw Alus at the throne and the sandy-blond haired boy waved over to his friend. The brunette smiled, waving back. Then Ingus saw something and tapped Luneth and Arc's shoulders. They looked at him and then followed the direction of where the blond was pointing at. They widened their eyes to see Refia and Karin walking to them, wearing beautiful dresses, while the two girls were smiling at them.

Refia's dress was white with the front part to be navy-blue. There were yellow ribbons on the side and she had white arm gloves on. Her long, orange-blond hair was tied to a bun. A white chocker was around her neck, matching the dress perfectly, and she was wearing white dress shoes. Karin's dress had pink on the top part while the legging was white. She was not wearing any gloves, but she was wearing a pink chocker around her neck. She had her golden-brown hair tied to a ponytail (think of Nagisa from "Strawberry Panic!"). Her shoes were pink.

The boys were speechless and Luneth had drool coming out of his mouth while Arc was blushing. Ingus had his eyebrows raised as he smiled. He nodded to them with approval and Luneth snapped out of it, but the blush remained on his face. Arc did the same thing, his blush remaining on his cheeks.

Twirling around to show more of the dress to them, Refia asked with a giggle, "So, what do you think? These used to be Alus' mother's dresses. It was nice of him to let us borrow these!"

"Hell yeah, it was nice of him!" Luneth cried out excitedly.

Ingus commented, "You girls look very lovely tonight."

Karin blushed, flattered with what he said. "Th-thanks, Ingus... That was very n-nice of you..."

Refia could not help but blush as well. She turned to Luneth. "What do you think, Luneth? Let's hear what you think."

The teen gulped, trying to think of what to say before he got it. "You look very... stunningly beautiful, R-Refia!"

The girl blushed even more. "Thanks a lot..." she muttered shyly, her heart pounding loudly for anyone to hear.

Alus stepped forward and spoke to everyone in the room, "Everyone of Saronia and my dear guests, the Four Warriors of Light! Thank you for coming! I am honored to take the position that my father have left me! In celebration of this day, let the ball begin!!"

Then all the couples began to dance and the five heroes glanced at each other. Luneth let out a grin as he glanced at Refia, who was a bit nervous since she never danced with anyone.

Taking out his hand, the silver-haired boy asked the strawberry-blond girl, "Shall we dance, Reffie?"

Blushing at the pet name he gave her, Refia gladly took his hand. "Yes..."

The two stepped out and then that got poor Karin and Arc nervous. Ingus glanced at the two and then he looked up at Alus, who gave him a wink. He nodded, turned to Karin, and took out his hand, giving her his charming smile.

He asked, "Shall I have this dance, Karin?"

The girl looked at him, still blushing, and glanced at Arc to see him nod with approval. She smiled and then looked back at the blond who was standing before her, putting her hand in his.

"I will," she said softly, smiling warmly.

Then Ingus led her to the dance floor and Arc watched how happy she was, dancing with his comrade. He also felt a pang of jealousy hit him and he tried to avoid it, but could not seem to help but feel that way. Letting out a sigh, all he could do was watch and try to enjoy the night. Ingus glanced at Arc before he looked down at Karin.

He asked, "Tell me, Karin, are you enjoying tonight?"

The girl nodded. "I am. I had no idea that you were such a wonderful dancer. I presume that you danced with Princess Sara, correct?"

Ingus could not help but blush at the thought of his secret love. "You could say that... How did you know that I liked her?"

"I can tell because whenever you talk to her, you blush and talk about her in such a formal manner." Karin giggled. "You can't hide things from us girls. We can just tell by looking at a man's eyes."

The blond grinned. "You have a keen eye."

At another part of the dance floor, Luneth and Refia were having a great time, but on the other hand, they were having a bit of a hard time bringing up a nice little conversation. Refia found Luneth to look very dashing and handsome with his nice suit, looking a bit like a prince from a fairytale, compared to Ingus and Arc. Sure, she and Luneth fight a lot and that Luneth is reckless, rushing into a situation once he sets eyes on one, but that did not hide the fact that she fell for him for who he was. The same was for Luneth as he could not tear his eyes off the strawberry-blond haired girl.

With some courage he gathered, the silver-haired teen asked the female, "Are you enjoying this, Refia?"

Refia nodded. "I am... Luneth. Are you?"

"I am, as long as... I'm with you..." the boy softly replied.

That got Refia to blush. Her heart was thumping loudly like a bird trying to get out of its cage and she felt very excited, her body feeling a very tingly sensation. Her grip on his hand tightened and the boy took note of that. The two gazed at each other and then Refia put her head on Luneth's chest, making him blush like mad. Luneth smiled at this and put his head on top of hers affectionately, holding her close to him as if she would vanish if he let her go.

He whispered, "I love you... Refia..."

Refia felt like crying out with happiness, but held it back. "I love you too... Luneth..."

The music finally ended and Alus stepped forward again. All eyes in the room was now on him, wondering what he had in store next. The young blond king cleared his throat, looking at his subjects and friends.

He spoke out in a clear, loud voice, "My citizens, I would now like to have the musicians play a piece for the one couple I would like to dance together tonight. The couple is..." He looked at Arc and Karin, who was curious on who the couple is. "Arc and Karin!"

Arc and Karin gasped and blushed like they have never blushed before. Ingus and Luneth grinned while Refia beamed. Arc looked down at the floor, feeling nervous, but then he looked up at Karin to see her looking back at him, still in Ingus' arms. Ingus then held her hand tightly, getting her to look at him.

He said, "You're going to thank me and the others later, Karin." He kissed her hand gently before he backed away. "Good luck."

Then Karin turned to face Arc, who was no longer blushing and trying hard to be a gentleman. He too out his hand slowly and she accepted with no words exchanged to each other, but smiles pasted on their faces. They walked to the dance floor as everyone backed away to give them room and then the music began playing a beautiful, slow, and romantic song.

Luneth grinned devilishly. "I knew that it would work!"

Refia smiled. "I have no idea that this was what you two were grinning about when their names were mentioned! This is like a fairytale come true."

"Indeed. This might be a night Arc and Karin shall not forget, that is if things go well according to plan," Ingus said, his arms crossed and a wide smile pasted on his face.

Meanwhile, Arc and Karin had their eyes stuck on each other and they were too nervous to look away from each other. Their dancing was slow and graceful. They could never have a better moment than this in their lifetime.

_You can do it, Arc. It's now or never!! Go for it, or shake a leg as Luneth says!_ the reddish-brown haired boy thought in his mind as he kept his eyes on the girl he was dancing with.

He spoke, "K-Karin... Th-there's something that I... want to tell you..."

The golden-haired girl looked at him with curiosity. "What is it, Arc?"

"Um... I, uh... Umm... I think you are a wonderful person and no one else understands me like Luneth, Refia, and Ingus does. You and I are alike in some ways, except that sometimes your temper is as big as your ego, but who cares since that it you being you and I respect that!"

"Arc, what are you trying to say to me?"

"...I love you."

The girl widened her eyes and at that moment, the song was over. At the same time, Karin ran out of the room. Arc ran after her while Ingus and Luneth were grinning from ear-to-ear. Refia was wondering why the two boys were grinning.

"Karin, wait!!" Arc called out as he continued to chase after the female in the castle garden.

Karin did not listen to him. All she did was run and she did not care where she was running to. She never wanted to get close to Arc and the reason was because he would get hurt. The other reason was that if they were together, the enemy would use her to get Arc and the others to do their bidding, and Karin never wanted that to happen. Her thoughts were cut off when she was being pulled back towards Arc. He held her tightly to him and he refused to let her go. He kept his head on her shoulder and remained that way.

"Let me go, Arc!!" she cried out, trying to get out of his grasp.

"I won't. I won't let you go..." he muttered. "Why? Why are you running away from me?"

Karin froze. "It's because... I don't want to have you hurt because of me..."

Arc blinked, pulled away just so he could look at her. "What do you mean by that? I won't get hurt because of you."

"Arc..." Karin looked down before she looked up at him again. "I don't want you to get close to you. If I did, the enemy could use me to get to you and the others. I also fear that it may ruin our journey if we love each other! I just don't want anything to interfere with our mission! You must understand, Arc!"

The reddish-brown haired boy could not believe what he had just heard as he looked at the girl who was now in tears. "Karin..." he cupped her face in his hands. "It won't ruin anything. I just know it. Luneth and Refia are in love and that is not interfering with our journey. Trust me, you just don't understand the true meaning of love."

Karin blinked at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"People who are in love can never interfere with anything in their life. Not even with missions like this. Karin, I love you for who you are and nothing is ever going to change that. Nothing!"

"A-Arc... You never said anything like that. So... did you really mean it when you said that you loved me?"

Arc chuckled. "I was serious when I told you. You are a very amazing and special girl that I have ever met. I have never met anyone like you and there is no one in Ur who is sweet and kind like you are. Karin..." He pressed his forehead on hers. "I want you. If you don't feel the same, though, then I understand. I won't complain about it. Just know that I will always think of you as someone I love and also as my best friend, no matter what."

Then Karin looked down again. "Arc, I... I love you as well... I was afraid that... it would not work out, but I guess it will work out after all."

"Of course..."

Then they leaned in and kissed. The feeling was mutual and it felt like forever as the two held each other in their arms, holding each other close. Their bodies melded together and their warmth became one. Little did the two know was that they were being watched by some certain people behind a bush.

Refia whispered, "I should have known that she was worried about something like that."

"Well, at least Arc knows what to say to help make her feel better, that's for sure," Luneth told her with a big grin on his face.

Ingus smiled with a small chuckle. "Yes, he sure is. This is going to make the journey more interesting than it already is."

Refia smiled at the blond. "You know what they always say, 'When it comes to love, two become one'!"


End file.
